Pope Benedict Talks Africa In His Sunday Angelus(Full text)

The Holy Father has a short Sunday Angelus today. He also made public remarks today in his homily when he ordained 29 men to the priesthood. I shall post that coming up. Thanks again to the Ratzinger Forum for the translation. Also go here and here for pictures of Holy Father and today's Angleus . Pope Benedict indicated that his trip to the USA will be talked about in Wednesday Audience this week

Dear brothers and sisters,

We just concluded a celebration at the Basilica of St. Peter during which I ordained 29 new priests. Every year, this is a moment of special grace and great festivity: new lymph is infused into the tissue of the community, both ecclesial as well as civic.

If the presence of priests is indispensable for the life of the Church, it is precious for everyone. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the deacon Phillip brought the Gospel to a city in Samaria: the people adhered with enthusiasm to his preaching, having also seen the prodigious signs that he worked with sick people; and "there was great joy in that city" (1,8).

As I reminded the new priests during the Eucharistic celebration, this is the sense of the mission of the Church, and in particular, of priests: to sow in the world the joy of the Gospel!

Where Christ is preached with the power of the Holy Spirit and is received with an open spirit, society, even with so many problems, becomes 'a city of joy' - the title of a famous book dedicated to the work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Therefore, this is the wish I have for the new priests, for whom I invite you all to pray: May they be able to spread, wherever they are assigned, the joy and the hope that spring forth from the Gospel.

In fact, this was also the message that I brought in recent days to the United States of America, with an apostolic voyage that had as its theme "Christ our Hope". I thank God that he blessed so much what was for me a singular missionary experience and has allowed me to be an insturment of Christ's hope for that Chruch and that nation.

At the same time, I thank him because I myself was confirmed in the hope of the Catholics of America - indeed, I found in them a great vitality and the determined will to live and testify to the faith in Jesus.

Next Wednesday, at the General Audience, I intend to deal more amply about my visit to America.

Today, many Oriental Churches celebrate, according to the Julian calendar, the great solemnity of Easter. I wish to express to these our friends and sisters my fraternal spiritual closeness.

I greet them from the heart, praying to the one and triune God to confirm them in the faith, to fill them with the brilliant light that emanates from the Resurrection of the Lord, and to comfort them in the uneasy situations in which often they must live and bear witness to the Gospel.

I invite everyone to join me in invoking the Mother of God so that the road of dialog and collaboration that we have taken for some time may bring us soon to a more complete communion among all the disciples of Christ, that they may be an ever more luminous sign of hope for all mankind.


After the prayer, he said:

The news which comes from some African countries continues to be cause for profound suffering and great concern. I ask you not to ignore these tragic events and our brothers and sisters who are involved in them. I ask you to pray for them and to be their voice!

In Somalia, especially in Mogadishu, bitter armed encounters are bringing increasing tragedy in the humanitarian crisis of those dear people who have been oppressed so many years by the weight of brutality and poverty.

Darfur, despite momentary glimmers of hope, remains an endless tragedy for hundreds of thousands od defenseless people who have been left to themselves.

Finally Burundi. After the bombardment in the past few days which have struck and terrorized the residents of the capital Bujumbara and which struck even the Apostolic Nunciature there, and in the face of the risk of a new civil war, I invite all parties in the dispute to resume without delay the way of dialog and reconciliation.

I trust that the local political authorities, responsible officials in the international community and every person of good will will not neglect any effort to put an end to the violence, and to honor commitments that have been undertaken to place a solid basis for peace and development.

Let us entrust our intentions to Mary, Queen of Africa.


In English, he said:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Regina Caeli.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord speaks to us of the mystery of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May we always remain faithful to this divine communion by living the commandments that he has given us.

God’s blessings of joy and peace be with you all!